Enough to Silence Traditionalists

And others who were critical of Benedict XVI's decision to resign? Ratzinger gives reason for resigning: “God told me to”
NCR

Grassroots Ecumenism?

Original Sin and Orthodoxy: Reflections on Carthage by Nathaniel McCallum

"Pacem in Terris: After 50 Years," Session One: Human Rights: Catholic and Secular

Paolo Carozza

Memorial of St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Memorial for St. Bernard of Clairvaux.




The same Bernard who gets blamed by Leon Podles.

Anselm Müller, "The Spiritual Nature of Man"

Monastery of Saint Mary of la Garde

Rorate Caeli: Grand Opening of the new buildings of the Monastery of La Garde, France

(See also Solemn Profession in Nursia)

Edit. Over at NLM: Q & A with Dom Mark Daniel Kirby on Silverstream Priory

"Aquinas and Orthodoxy"

The talk is not by Marcus Plested, but by Fr. Andrew Louth, given for the Oxford Orthodox Christian Student Society on October 20, 2011.


Fr. Andrew did write a review of Dr. Plested's book which was published in First Things (subscription required).

M. Burcht Pranger, "Bernard of Clairvaux, The Last of the Church Fathers"

Something in the Daily Cal: A glimpse into modern-day Orthodox Christianity


A minority Christian group that is of no significance in the US - the article would fit with the PC sensibility of the Daily Cal.

Cappella Papale in the Sistine Chapel - Apostolic Liturgy par excellence

The title of the pope seems to be an exaggeration, though the author probably did not intend it to be such.

Vatican Radio: Pope sends greeting to Rimini meeting

Still Too Early to Judge?

Ars Orandi: Pope Francis is Shaking up the Catholic Right... and the Conservatives are taking it out on the Traditionalists
The perspective of a NCR reporter: Pope Francis is unsettling -- and dividing -- the Catholic right by David Gibson
Pope Francis discovers charismatic movement a gift to the whole church


Maybe everyone should take a time out and focus on their own community first.

Holy Mass for the Assumption of Mary and Angelus

text of homily

Fr. John Welch, "The Interior Castle of St. Teresa of Avila"

The talk by Fr. Deacon Sabatino Carnazzo at the Eparchy of Parma's annual pilgrimage at the Shrine of Our Lady of Mariapoch:

A Workshop on Divinization

Coming up at the Liturgical Institute: September 12 & 13, 2013: Divinization: Becoming Partakers of the Divine Nature

It looks like this is being done wholly from a Latin perspective?

Fr. Thomas Loya: The Sacramental Worldview

Called to Communion: The Freedom of the Church: A Review of Hugo Rahner’s Church and State in Early Christianity

Another Week

Another Orthodox representation of Catholic teaching on original sin, this time at Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy: Original and Ancestral Sin: A Brief Comparison.

Rorate Caeli: Insignia of the Pope

How much of these really need to be brought back? There are undoubtedly some who are disappointed that Pope Benedict did not do enough to restore Catholic "tradition" in this regard. Meanwhile, a recovery of a proper understanding of the episcopal office (and the office of the pope) is neglected?

Two Dominican Heavyweights

Serge-Thomas Bonino and Romanus Cessario

"Pacem in Terris: After 50 Years," Session Three: Sovereignty and Subsidiarity, Jean Bethke Elshtain

Thomistica.net: NCBQ Issue Devoted to the Critique of the New Natural Law Theory Available for Download - link

I may pick up a hard copy regardless...

Jean Bethke Elshtain Videos

Related:

Talks from the Searching for the Sacred Symposium at Ancient Faith Radio

here

Jean Bethke Elshtain

Jean Bethke Elshtain, a Political Scientist Unafraid to Talk God, Has Died - her faculty page. Chicago Tribune. Christianity Today. National Review.

Mirror of Justice: Jean Bethke Elshtain and "Legal Moralism"

Other on Jean Elshtain: Elshtain on Catholic Social Thought in America
Elshtain's "Augustine and the Limits of Politics"

Eastern Christian Books: The Problem of Sovereignty

Related:
The problems of mandatory sentencing and federal overreach:
Seven Shot Guns Shells, No Weapons, But 15 Years in Prison

Leading from the Front

Are We Walking to Heaven Backward? A Pastoral Consideration of Liturgical “orientation.” by Msgr. Charles Pope

CNS: Lessons from the Christian east

"Bishop John M. Botean of the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St George's in Canton, Ohio, recently gave CNS a quick explanation of the appeal of Eastern Christian spirituality. Originally produced May 17, 2012."

To be "Ignatian"

CWR: Superior General of the Jesuits encourages youth to be “Ignatian people”
Fr. Adolfo Nicolas, SJ, participates in the pre-WYD program, MAGIS Brasil

(via Insight Scoop)

Ignatian people? Not Christian people? Often when the term is used by modern-day Jesuit colleges, it is in reference to a transformed Catholic Christian humanism which has been divested of its Christian center, little better than what passes for "spirituality" in popular culture. There may be talk about human dignity and social justice, but very little focus on God and Christ.

But the superior general did not deviate so far:

Speaking in Spanish, Fr. Nicolas made some opening remarks, observing that the world is in the middle of an economic, political and cultural crisis. “What worries me is that there seems to be no alternative system, despite all the information and intelligence available in the world”. He went on to draw from the experience of St. Ignatius, suggesting that in order for young people to make a difference in transforming the world “you have to transform people first”. However, the challenge of transforming the world, according to Fr. Nicolas, is best met by allowing God to transform our hearts, after which we can be able to change what is outside. He encouraged the young people to use gatherings such as the World Youth Days, to widen their horizon to see more and open their hearts, while recognizing that Christ works in the heart of every person, irrespective of social class.

Although the last line reminds one of Rahner's "anonymous Christianity," if Fr. Nicolas is speaking of Christians and non-Christians alike. While he is right to urge "caution and discernment in determining when to receive international aid, especially when they have strings attached to them," are his suggestions about universities too tied to industrial development and unsustainable growth?

OP: Una liturgia internacional

RISU: Ukrainian Greek Catholic Head Announces Beginning of Synod of Bishops

Chiesa: Groundbreaking: The Last Warning to the Pope's Electors by Sandro Magister


The official bulletin of the Holy See has lifted the secrecy from the meditation dictated to the cardinals at the beginning of the last conclave, with the doors already closed. Here are the essential passages

Fr. Thomas Loya: Eastern Catholic Church - An Introduction

1993 Video of Ksenia Pokrovsky

Ksenia Pokrovsky works on the icon of St. Philip the Apostle

She passed away in July of this year: The Falling Asleep of Ksenia Pokrovsky - Orthodox Arts Journal

From 2010: My beautiful iconography mentor Ksenia Pokrovsky

The website for her studio.

OP: Main decisions of the General chapter of Trogir

International Version
French
Spanish

The Rule of the Theotokos

The Rule of the Mother of God of St Seraphim of Sarov (pdf)
The prayer rule of St. Seraphim of Sarov

Taylor Marshall: Does the Rosary Predate Saint Dominic

Related:
The Prayer Rule of the Theotokos
scribd
Prayer Rule of the Theotokos V: Rosary? Rule of the Theotokos? Jesus Prayer?

Let's check the price... Edward Feser: NOW AVAILABLE: Aristotle on Method and Metaphysics

Underground Wellness: The Lead Vaccine Developer Comes Clean So She Can Sleep at Night - Gardasil and Cervarix

The Times of India: Earth's 100,000-year Ice Age cycle decoded

First Things: Celibacy and Healing by Ron Belgau

Sebastian Brock on the Syriac tradition in Christianity

Related: Syria refugees swell Christian community in Turkey

Adoremus: "Jubilate Deo Latin Chants"

Background and samples.

Interview with Ksenia Pokrovsky

It includes photos of some of her works. I'll have to use one of the online translators, or a browser translator, for the text.

From the Hexaemeron FB page:

"Icon by Ksenia Pokrovsky commissioned for the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Peter in Trier, Germany. This beautiful masterpiece depicts the assembly of all saints, Eastern and Western, connected with the cathedral's history."

Rorate Caeli: Summorum Pontificum finally made available in major languages in Vatican website!

Musica Sacra Forum: cup vs chalice again

Is Morality Natural? J. Budziszewski at the University of Idaho

An Update on the FFI

Given the coverage provided by Vatican Insider, I thought I should link to the correction offered by the superior of the order: "They Knowingly Lie" -- Franciscans of the Immaculate Defend Themselvesin Official Statement

Also provided at Fr. Z's blog and Rorate Caeli.

Related:
Minority within Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate wanted to scrap the Old Mass
Roberto de Mattei: Flood of Protest Letters to the Vatican for Franciscans of the Immaculata

The Eastern Province Continues to Do Well

with respect to vocations...

Order of Preachers Vocations: 18 Novices Begin their Novitiate for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph

Trinity Cathedral: How To Tie Prayer Rope

Fr. Mark Drew, Pope Francis is a humble man, just like Benedict XVI

Antiphon: Louis Bouyer's Defense of Religion and the Sacred: Sacrifice and the Primacy of Divine Gift in Christian Liturgy by Keith Lemna (pdf)

Related:
From 2010: Rev. Louis Bouyer: A Theological Giant | An Interview with Dr. Keith Lemna

Risu: Bishop Milan Shashik: Celebrating the 1025th Anniversary of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus, We Cannot Forget Sts. Cyril and Methodius

Space.com: Sun Will Flip Its Magnetic Field Soon
realfarmacy

"Pope Paul the Sad"

As someone I know used to call him...

Views from the Choir Loft: Paul VI "Disturbed And Saddened" By Purge Of Latin

Mission: Impossible by Andriy Skumin
The celebration of 1025 years of the christening of Kyiv Rus sums up the failure of Russia’s religious expansion in Ukraine headed by Patriarch Kirill

Feast of the Holy Transfiguration

CWR: Blessed Grapes and Hymns of Glory: The Feast of the Transfiguration in the Eastern Churches by Christopher B. Warner
Contemplation of Christological events, like the Transfiguration, provides a wealth of liturgical poetry and hymnography in the Eastern Church

Capella Romana: Canon to St. Thomas Aquinas

English Translation

Nuns of the Sisters of Loretto and the Abbey of Gethsemani Resisting Gas Pipeline

Defiant nuns and monks refuse to give up Kentucky land for gas pipeline by David Ferguson

Padraig Purcell Remembers Fr. Serge Keleher

Serge Keleher, larger than life (this was also published at Risu)

Fr. Serge loved and knew the Divine liturgies of all the Churches, East and West, in great detail. He believed totally in the Divine Liturgy and he strongly defended it against those who sought to change or dilute it. Publicly, Fr. Serge offered the Divine Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom and Basil. In private, in his latter years, he preferred the Old Latin Rite. He was also involved in the restoration of the Old Latin Liturgy (at the highest levels) because he saw no reason or evidence that this Rite was ever, or could ever be, abrogated. He was vindicated and there was glee in the tone of his mail to me in 2006 that Jorge Cardinal Medina Estevez, former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, had publicly declared this. Recent statements by Pope Benedict XVI have also copper fastened this.

I don't have much to say about the recent news regarding the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate - you can find commentary over at Rorate Caeli, Fr. Z's blog, and the Mary Victrix. There has been some consternation among traditionalists, and I am posting this piece by Roberto de Mattei, published at The Eponymous Flower, as he may be the best spokesman for the traditionalist concerns and viewpoint: Roberto de Mattei: Franciscans of the Immaculata Models in Situation of Liturgical, Theological and Moral Anarchy.

The Vatican and the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate by Michael J. Miller
Francis Has Not Contradicted Benedict’s Reforms, Say Franciscans of the Immaculate

The Order of Preachers General Chapter Homily by Fr. Augustine Thompson

Text

A Warranted Ecumenical Gesture?

Been doing some cleaning, and was flipping through the Winter 1997/98 issue of Company. From the article "Gospel First," By Fr. Keith Pecklers, SJ:

During the archbishop of Canterbury's visit to the Vatican in 1996, the press chose to make women's ordination the hot issue between the pope and the archbishop. This was not the case. What was the case was a visible, tangible warmth between the two, evident in the pope's unexpected invitation to Dr. George Carey and his wife, Eileen, to join him for lunch in his apartment.

The press also missed the symbolic significance of the exchange of gifts between the two Church leaders. The archbishop presented the Holy Father with a communion box engraved with the cross of Canterbury, while the pope presented the archbishop with a gold bishop's cross--the same presented to Roman Catholic archbishops during their Ad Limina Apostolorum visits. He gave other Anglican bishops the same silver cross he gives to Roman Catholic bishops.

At the ecumenical Evening Prayer held at the Church of San Gregorio, the archbishop of Canterbury was prepared to wear tradition choir dress--cassock and surplice--as his predecessors had done, so as not to upstage the pope dressed in mitre and cope. (The former is the arched hat worn by bishops and abbots; the latter the cape worn over alb and stole.) Instead, the Vatican sent word that Dr. Carey was to vest in mitre and cope and that his wife was to walk in the processions. In a city where nothing is without symbolic significance, these acts on the part of the Vatican were extraordinary.

A complementary perspective offered by a Roman-rite priest to the article by Fr. Maximos: Do Homosexuals Exist? Or, Where Do We Go From Here? by Fr. Hugh Barbour

Related:
A REQUIEM FOR FRIENDSHIP by Anthony Esolen
Why Boys Will Not Be Boys & Other Consequences of the Sexual Revolution

First Things: Celibacy in Context by Maximos Davies

It seems that the one thing everyone knows about the Eastern Churches is that “they have married priests.” Unfortunately, this often seems to be the only thing many people know about Eastern Christianity. What does not seem to be widely understood is that the Eastern Churches have very distinct theological, liturgical, and spiritual cultures in which the practice of ordaining married men to the priesthood (but not to the episcopate) must be understood. If Western Catholics want to use the example of the Eastern Churches as a guide for their own situation it is imperative that they understand how a married clergy fits into this unique Church culture.

Rome Reports: Pope celebrates Mass in Rome to honor St. Ignatius of Loyola


Edit. The text of his homily.
Pope Francis: Once a Jesuit, Always a Jesuit
Pope highlights “the centrality” of Christ and of the Church for all Jesuits

Catholic World Report: World Youth Day, Liturgy, and the New Evangelization by Leroy Huizenga
Well-formed disciples are shaped and taught through good liturgy: lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi

(via Insight Scoop)

Risu: VIKTOR YELENSKY: ‘STATE PROGRAM OF CELEBRATIONS OF 1025TH ANNIVERSARY IS A HUMILIATION FOR MILLIONS OF UKRAINIAN CHRISTIANS AND IT FURTHER DIVIDES THE COUNTRY’

Related:
Thanksgiving Celebrated on St. Vladimir's Hill in Kiev
The Day of St. Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostles marked by Divine Liturgy celebrated by heads and and hierarchs of local Orthodox churches at Kiev Monastery of the Caves
Homily delivered by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in Kiev Laura of the Caves on the Commemoration Day of St. Vladimir Equal to the Apostles
Kyiv and Moscow Patriarchates to Unite

First Things: The Thomistic Institute Presents the Art of the Beautiful

Now available: A Service of Love: Papal Primacy, the Eucharist, and Church Unity by Paul McPartlan

Byzantine Beauty by Joseph Pronechen, Staff Writer
Eastern-Rite Churches Reflect Eternal Truths of Heaven and Earth

Both Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk and Bishop Borys Gudziak will be unable to attend the Napa Institute Conference. I hope they will be able to visit the Bay Area some time, though the Ukrainian Catholic presence here is not so big.

Byzantine Rite - Good Guys Wear Black: Minor Orders: Subdeacon

Putin visits Ukraine to mark region's conversion to Christianity

Vatican Insider: Those words Pope Luciani pronounced about Lefebvre

Picture of the Day: The Pope's Chotki by Greg Kandra (cross-posted at his blog)

Mystagogy: The Theotokos and Ancestral Sin

One Orthodox perspective?

Related:
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION AS PERCEIVED FROM THE CHRISTIAN EAST
Four Things We Lost in the Fall Besides Sanctity

Time: Revealed: How Mars Lost Its Atmosphere by Jeffrey Kluger

The Red Planet lost its protective blanket of air billions of years ago. Now astronomers are certain why

Scientific American: Sex with Other Human Species Might Have Been Secret of Homo Sapiens’s Success

SVS Press Releases Book by "The Opinionated Tailor," Kh. Krista West - The Garments of Salvation

Les fondamentaux de la culture chrétienne

Also from KTOTV: La liturgie des heures

Fr. Z: REVIEW: The book on Augustine which Pope Benedict would have wanted to write.

Added this to my wish list as well.

St Augustine of Hippo, An Intellectual Biography, by Miles Hollingsworth

Rorate Caeli: Fr. Chad Ripperger's "The Binding Force of Tradition" - Book review

Pravmir: Archbishop Mark (Arndt): Advice to Potential Monastics

Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos

A post at Rorate Caeli reminded me of its existence: Summer Book Suggestions - 2nd Post: What book was important for your conversion or discovery of Tradition?

Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos published books by Dominicans like Fr. Santiago Ramirez, as well as Fr. Carlos Soria and Fr. Alberto Colunga, who are mentioned in that post. How is the publisher faring in the Spanish economy?

Some ideas for conferences and such... not that I would have the resources or standing or credentials to put one on my own, but maybe it is possible to find some sponsors for something less than academic. (Or more than academic, depending on your perspective and the ultimate end of such gatherings.) While the 20th century disputants may have passed on, what about revisiting the debate between the neo-scholastics (neo-Thomists) and the new theologians? Are there any today who would acknowledge being the successors to neo-Thomism? Or would they, like many Dominicans, see themselves as restoring or reviving a Thomism? How is each school to be distinguished from the other?


For the needs of "modern man," how are we to explain God and His saving work? Render scripture more intelligible? Understand God better?

Related:
"Uniting Faith and Culture: Hans Urs von Balthasar" by J. Peter Pham (via Insight Scoop)

Revue Thomiste - books

Présentation de la Revue Thomiste (le fr Serge Thomas Bonino)


Aquinas on the Spirit's Gift of Understanding and Dionysius Mystical Theology by Bernard Blackenhorn

Gilles Emery: "The Thomistic Doctrine of God and Dominican Spiritual Life"

First Things: Five Myths About Pope Francis by William Doino Jr.

The author does not touch upon liturgy.

Відеозвернення Блаженнішого Святослава до молоді

Live from Mumford Road: Episode 4 (Deacon Sabatino Carnazzo)

The Deacon went to Christendom; I believe he was more of a traditionalist while he was there, so I'm interested in his "journey to the East." He is a deacon at Holy Transfiguration (still one of my favorites) and heads the Institute of Catholic Culture.

Christ the Bridegroom Monastery

Should pick up an copy of the recent The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly - could be useful.

The Latest in the Hart Debate over Natural Law

Ed Feser links to some of the posts and writes his response: Hart stopping.

Byzantine Discalced Carmelites of Holy Annunciation Monastery, Sugarloaf, PA

Their website.

Zenit: Focolare Youth in Rio Will Teach Peers About Blessed Chiara
Also Leading Interreligious Dialogue Project

Sandro Magister: The Prelate of the Gay Lobby

Facts and personages of the scandalous past of the man whom Francis, unaware, delegated to represent him at the IOR. Here's how a parallel power lives and thrives at the Vatican, plotting to the harm of the pope

John Cavidini reviews George Weigel's Evangelical Catholicism: Church as Sacrament

Is Cavidini making too much of Weigel's use of friendship?

For example: “Evangelical Catholics know that friendship with the Lord Jesus and the communion that arises from that friendship is an anticipation of the City of God in the city of this world.” Despite the echo of Augustinian language, the theological syntax is foreign to the ­Augustine of the City of God and to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which invokes his ecclesiology of the totus Christus. The communion of the Church does not arise from personal friendship with the Lord Jesus, but from Christ’s undeserved, atoning love which, mediated by the sacraments, makes the Church. The Church is the bond of communion, whether it is consciously known in a subjective friendship or not.

Do Protestant Evangelicals talk about friendship with Christ? Or a personal relationship? Friendship with God can also be a way of understanding caritas (Aquinas's definition, after all) - which is itself a gift of God and the Church can be understood as the social dimension of caritas.

It is significant that Weigel claims Dei Verbum, not Lumen Gentium, is “the key Vatican II document for the deep reform of the Catholic Church.”He never mentions the doctrine, prominent in Lumen Gentium and emphatically repeated in the Catechism, that the Church is the sacrament of communion with God and of unity among human beings.

I don't plan on reading Weigel's book in the near future; but what if his "friendship" with Christ is equivalent to "communion"? What is the relationship of the Church to this? Does Christ save individuals as individuals? Or as members of a new people? It could be that Weigel is not sufficiently precise in his writing and that the book is as problematic as Cavidini suggests.

John Burger on Orientale Lumen

CWR: Grassroots Ecumenism of Friendship Keeps Orthodox-Catholic Hopes Alive by John Burger
Orientale Lumen Conferences Boost Participants’ Knowledge of Issues, Forge Ties

Related:
Pope in a Minefield by Tim Kelleher

Ancient Faith Radio: Searching for the Sacred Symposium (mp3)

Chiesa: Vatican Diary / Those saints made as he commands

For Romero, Francis loosens the restraints of the Holy Office. For John XXIII and for a Jesuit to whom he is devoted, he goes ahead without waiting for the miracle required by the norms. In beatifications and canonizations, the pope is acting as an absolute monarch

What happened to a more humble papacy?

Recent Theological Opinion on Infused Contemplation (from the last century)

One Bishop Per City or Region

Ancient Faith Radio Correcting a Canonical Anomaly - mp3

Autocephaly problem: history and present